The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticized President Muhammadu Buhari over a shooting incident that reportedly occurred inside the presidential villa Abuja last week, due to a reported fist-cuff among family members and officials of the Buhari Presidency.
The party which put the blame on Buhari for reportedly failing to provide direction among aides and members of his family, called on the President to speak up on the incident and resolve all issues between the first’s family and aides working at the presidency.
According to reports, there was a disagreement on Thursday night when the First Lady’s Aide-de-camp, Usman Shugaba, attempted to compel President Buhari’s Special Assistant, Sabiu Yusuf, to undergo self-isolation in line with COVID-19 protocols as the later had recently returned from a trip to Lagos.
Sabiu, who is Buhari’s nephew, returned to his residence at the precincts of the Presidential Villa, after a trip to Lagos where he had reportedly gone to meet his wife who had just delivered a new baby.
Despite attempts to make him go into self-isolation, he refused to leave the premises of the Presidential Villa, according to reports. The first lady and three of her children were reported to have intervened in the disagreement, but they could not prevail on him to leave the villa.
In an attempt to arrest Sabiu, the First Lady’s ADC reportedly fired gunshots within the vicinity. Reacting to the development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) condemned the reported shooting within the precincts of the Presidential villa.
The PDP argues that the action amounts to a gross failure on the part of President Buhari to provide leadership both as family and leader. The PDP said it is deeply worried that the protracted spat between the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, and aides of President Buhari has now degenerated into violent combats, raids and shooting within the Presidential villa.
The party, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described as distressing, the report that members of Mr President’s family were at the scene of the assault against one of President Buhari’s aides, during which the First Lady’s security details were alleged to have resorted to the use of firearms.
“Our party is disturbed by such ugly situation in the Buhari Presidency, which has already heightened apprehensions in the public space over the apparent failure of security architecture and central command system in the presidency leading to such reckless and irresponsible breaches” The statement noted.
According to the PDP, “the chaotic situation in the Presidential villa only points to the failure by President Buhari to provide leadership that can guarantee orderliness in governance and effectively ensure the security of our nation.”
The PDP noted that” such leadership failure at the highest level has further exposed why the nation has been bedevilled by myriads of security and economic problems under President Buhari’s watch in the last five years.”
“More worrisome is that the Buhari Presidency had failed to speak out on the frightening situation so as to reassure Nigerians and douse the tension in the polity; especially at this critical time when our nation is facing serious security challenges,” the party added.
